Level 10 Flame ThrowerBuild 'Mmmph' by dealing damage.Alt-Fire on full 'Mmmph': Taunt to gain crit for several seconds.Invulnerable while 'Mmmph' taunting.No random critical hitsNo airblastBeing a revolutionary appliance capable of awakening the fire element phlogiston that exists in all combustible creatures, which is to say, all of them.

“

Surging electrolyzed ultra-waves of pure phlogiston, this devastating incinerator will get them all hot under the collar! Actually, it will burn them alive. Horribly.

— Phlogistinator publicity blurb

”

The Phlogistinator (also known as the Phlog) is a primary weapon for the Pyro. It is a retro-futuristic ray blunderbuss with some metal parts colored either copper or silver depending on the team, and a team-colored canister stamped with the Dr. Grordbort crest. It fires waves of energy that function similarly to the Flamethrower's flames.

This weapon cannot gain random crits or use compression blasts. However, while equipped, all fire damage done with any weapons by the Pyro will increase the 'Mmmph' bar. Once filled, it can be activated with the alt-fire (default key: MOUSE2), or by taunting (default key: G) which performs a taunt that will enable a short crit boost for the Phlogistinator only. During this taunt, the wielder becomes invulnerable to damage and knockback; the taunt cannot be activated if the player is in the air or in water.

It requires 300 points of fire damage to completely fill the 'Mmmph' bar (1200 damage against robots, or 3000 damage against tanks, in Mann vs. Machine), and when full, a team-colored particle effect (exactly similar to that of the Medi Gun at full Übercharge) will appear in the muzzle of the weapon as a visual indicator. The duration of the buff is 10 seconds, minus the length of the taunt.

Enemies killed by the Phlogistinator suffer a distinctive death by incineration, wherein they disintegrate into smoldering orange cinders that quickly fade away.

Afterburn will reduce healing and shield resists from a Medi Gun by 20%.

Note: Flame damage is proportional to particle lifetime instead of distance from target. Unlike most weapons, Critical hits are also affected by the scaling. Additionally, there is a very slight damage variance (±0.08 / particle) due to differences in particle angles.

Blueprint

As a crafting ingredient

Strange variant

Strange Variant Information

Strange Phlogistinator

Strange Flame Thrower - Kills: 0Build 'Mmmph' by dealing damage.Alt-Fire on full 'Mmmph': Taunt to gain crit for several seconds.Invulnerable while 'Mmmph' taunting.No random critical hitsNo airblastBeing a revolutionary appliance capable of awakening the fire element phlogiston that exists in all combustible creatures, which is to say, all of them.

Bugs

In some cases, when the player switches from Pyro to another class, they will have only 50 ammo.

Occasionally after activating 'Mmmph', the charged particle effect may remain on the muzzle of the weapon. This can be easily fixed by switching to another weapon and then back again.

After activating 'Mmmph' followed by switching class, the 'Mmmph' glowing particle effect will be present when taunting.

'Mmmph' gained is not reduced to reflect Damage Resistance. For example, hitting a Spy protected by the Dead Ringer will enable the Pyro to fill his 'Mmmph' gauge, despite the Spy not having enough health to do so normally.

In some cases, fire particles still in the air while activating 'Mmmph' will also be crit-boosted.

If 'Mmmph' is activated and the round changes, the effect will continue until the 'Mmmph' bar is depleted.

If the player is switched to the enemy team when the rounds end with a full 'Mmmph', the charged particle effect in client view will still be the old team's color.

Using an Action slot taunt with a full 'Mmmph' will cause the charge particle effect to disappear.

This can be fixed by switching weapons.

If the player activates 'Mmmph' with this weapon, and then switches to another primary weapon via Resupply or another method, the new weapon will retain the remaining crit-boost gained from 'Mmmph'.

Trivia

In the 1700s, Phlogiston was believed to be an invisible floating substance that was released from objects when they were set on fire.

This weapon's design seems to be inspired from the "Unnatural Selector", a model which can be bought here at Weta's online store.

The Phlogistinator is an Aether Combustor according to the Weta Workshop page for Dr. Grordbort[1].

According to the same page, it "surges electrolysed ultra-waves of pure phlogiston".